Let's not forget some other things about this too, like government regulations.
First off, is the Beat capable of meeting US crash standards? If not then where and what is required to make it pass will have to be studied, engineered, retested, any corrections made on unforeseen complications caused by the new parts on existing items, and so on.
Next is the Beat's drivetrain EPA certified? If not, then it'll have to be certified and the last I heard that was at least 2 years worth of testing. Then after it's certified they'll have to tune and test for economy standards and then decide if it's even worth doing.
Once you get something that's acceptable to the goverment, then you can start getting contracts together with parts suppliers, unions, tooling suppliers, etc., who in turn have to fit it into their schedules.
Keep in mind money, which is tight for GM, would have to be budgeted for all this. I'm thinking 4 years would be about right. Almost makes you wonder if it wouldn't be easier to start with a clean slate sometimes.
Honda got the Fit, which is the same kind of car, on the US market in record time. I'm seeing them all over. They just had what they needed beforehand, pretty much went "Let's do it", and
did it. They apparently had all the US safety requirements addressed in advance. Foresight. Toyota's been throwing new tiny Scion models on the US market one after the other as well.
GM just takes half a decade to come up with a single thought and filter it through their boardrooms, is what it looks like to me. I don't think all that is much of an excuse. They're just incredibly slow to react to changes in the market, which is why their marketshare is sinking like a stone.
I'm just wondering if the Big Three will do the same thing they did in the 1970's, which caused the ascendancy of foreign cars in the first place. Namely, equate "small and fuel efficient" with "crappy quality and cheap materials" with cars like the Vega, Chevette and Pinto, which is what allowed Honda, Toyota and Mazda to kick their asses with the Civic, Corolla, GLC and other similar cars that were tiny and efficient, but well-made.
